anal-retentive

See also: anal retentive

English

Etymology

From anal +‎ retentive. First use appears c. 1936 in the writings of Marjorie Brierley.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adjective

anal-retentive (comparative more anal-retentive, superlative most anal-retentive)

1. (psychology, Freudian) Preoccupied with achieving perfection, order and control and with collecting, possessing, and retaining objects.

   Coordinate term: anal-expulsive

2. (by extension) Overly obsessive concerning small details.

Synonyms

• anal
• See also Thesaurus:fastidious

Derived terms

• anal-retentiveness

Translations

preoccupied with achieving order

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: anaalis-retentiivinen
• German: analfixiert, pingelig (de), ordnungsliebend, minutiös (de), genau (de), akribisch (de), peinlich (de), etepetete (de), bürgerlich (de), spießig (de)
• Portuguese: anal-retentivo m

overly obsessive concerning small details

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: anaalis-retentiivinen
• German: kleinlich (de), pedantisch (de), übergenau (de), überkorrekt, etepetete (de), penibel (de), übergenau (de), kleinkariert (de), zwanghaft (de), obsessiv (de), gehemmt (de), verklemmt (de)
• Portuguese: controlador (pt) m, neurótico (pt) m, obsessivo (pt) m

Further reading

• anal-retentive on Wikipedia.Wikipedia